


Curse of the Ocean

by TheLateNightStoryTeller



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mermaids, a bit of an explanation of how Fitzsimmons get to where we see them at the end of S3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLateNightStoryTeller/pseuds/TheLateNightStoryTeller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Seychelles, Fitz and Jemma are sent to Copenhagen to investigate a series of mysterious incidents around a lighthouse. People have reported seeing mermaids in the waves, but Fitzsimmons don’t believe in mermaids…. right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was raining in sheets outside the airport window, the kind of rain that soaked you through to your skin within seconds, and Fitz and Jemma were still recovering from their dousing as they waited for their flight to come in.

"Still another hour and a half," Fitz muttered, glancing acidly at the board at the front of the room.

"It could be worse," Jemma reminded him, cheerful as ever even though all her clothes were in her suitcase and the ones she had on now were completely drenched. Like him, she must have been freezing, but she didn't seem bothered by it. "At least our flight hasn't been cancelled."

She grinned at him, her drying hair beginning to frizz and a sea of freckles crossing her cheeks to show off their time in the sun, and he couldn't help smiling back. She was so beautiful, almost unearthly so, and he wondered how the entire world wasn't enchanted by the glow around her.

Her skin still smelled like sunscreen, the wooden sea turtle necklace he'd carved for her still hanging around her neck, and he could still picture the sheer delight on her face as she'd led him across the reef. He could still remember the feeling of the sun on his skin and the wind rocking their hammock as they dozed together beneath the palm trees, tangled up like the knots of the net. He could almost hear the music that had coloured the night air when they'd danced and laughed until the small hours of the morning.

How could he stay grumpy when they were together? When they'd just had one of the best vacations of his life? Who cared about _rain_ and delayed flights when they had all that?

He wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to warm her, and even though he was still damp she snuggled in against him.

"I'm not in much of a rush to go home anyway," he conceded.

"Me neither," she admitted. She squirmed in her seat, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "One more picture for the album?"

"I look like a drowned rat," he protested half-heartedly.

"You look fine," she dismissed, already aiming the shot. "Besides it's about capturing the moment, and right now I certainly _feel_ like a drowned rat. Don't you want an accurate account of our trip to show our grandchildren?"

"Our…. Our what?" He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea when she snapped the picture.

He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought about a family together, settling down and making tiny humans they could share their love and their world with. She sounded so sure though, that it was what she wanted, what she wanted with _him_. The way she spoke, it felt as if she was as certain as he was about their relationship, that their future together was a guarantee.

It wasn't though, not as long as they worked for SHIELD, and neither would their children's be. It scared him half to death already, worrying about what might happen to her, and he wasn't sure how he'd handle having that terror multiplied by two, or even three. How could they build a life with that hanging over them?

"See," she told him, proudly holding up the picture she'd just taken. "We look just fine."

Fitz thought he actually looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck, but he didn't say that.

She smiled at the new picture, settling into him again as she did. "I'm glad we did this."

His chest warmed despite the damp chill and he rested his cheek against her temple. "Me too."

"And I can't believe you thought I couldn't be romantic," she added, still affronted by the idea. "I'm sure you've changed your mind after that sunset boat ride I planned. And the fish, did you see how many colours they had? And that morning I brought you breakfast in bed…"

"You didn't need to prove anything," he chuckled. He kissed her hair, smitten by every inch of her. "I already thought you were magnificent."

To his surprise, she scoffed. "There you go again, trying to outdo me!"

"I didn't do anything," he defended. "I'm just telling you the truth-"

She sighed. "I know. It all comes so naturally for you. You don't even need to _try_ to sweep me off my feet…" She fiddled with her necklace, running her thumb over the carefully carved flower at the center of the shell. "You just do," she murmured.

He laughed because, of course, she was missing the obvious. "It's only so easy because you've already taken my breath away."

Her head tilted back and their eyes met, hers sparkling like the sea. He was leaning in to kiss her, his heart quivering, when her phone went off.

"I knew it'd been quiet for too long," he muttered and Jemma hummed in agreement before answering.

"Hello?" she chirped politely. She shuffled the phone to the ear closest towards him and Fitz leaned in to listen.

"I know you're still technically on vacation," Coulson began apologetically. "But I was wondering if I could redirect your flight back."

The pair exchanged a glance. It wasn't like Coulson to ask for permission, their assignments tended to be orders rather than requests, but he gave Jemma a slight nod to tell her was up for whatever it was and she nodded back before turning her attention back to the call.

"Alright. What's happening sir?"

"I owe a friend a favour and I think it's about time I made good on it," he told them. He sounded almost cheerful. "She's wants the… uh… _ATCU_ to officially investigate a series of occurrences. Mostly just to put the public's mind at ease. I really don't think there's actually anything alien going on. It'll be an easy mission, you'll probably be finished in less than a day and my friend is willing to let you stay a bit longer if you help her out. She owns a bed and breakfast in Copenhagen."

Jemma's face lit up at that and he could almost hear the excited chatter running through her head. ' _That sounds lovely. A bed and breakfast… and the birth place of Niels Bohr!'_ She was probably already running through a list of things she'd want to see there and, honestly, a bit of extra time away anywhere with Jemma sounded like a pretty good deal to him too.

"It sounds like you're trying to extend our vacation sir," he teased. "You aren't in any hurry to have us back at the Playground?"

"It's pretty quiet here right now," he answered, amused.

"How's Daisy?" Jemma asked, sobering them for moment.

There was a brief pause on his end of the line. "I'm transferring your flight now," he said at last, disregarding the question, and Fitz and Jemma exchanged a worried glance. "Don't worry about us," he added, reading their silence. "There should be plenty of time to catch up when you get back. I'm sending you the information now."

"And our luggage?" Jemma asked.

"It's being transferred. Someone will meet you at the airport. You should go over the file on the way," he suggested. "And… take your time coming back. We all miss you but like I said, it's pretty quiet."

Why did it feel like he was hiding something? Fitz thought it probably had something to do with Daisy, but the secrecy wasn't easing his concerns in the slightest. However, with a click, their leader had hung up and the two of them were left sitting in the wrong waiting area.

"I suppose we're going to Denmark then," Jemma said, her mouth slowly curving up in a small smile.

Fitz smiled too, already reaching for their carry-ons. "I guess we are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! Fitzsimmons vacation-ish story! Right? The updates on this one are going to be a bit less steady. I am going to try to update every Tuesday, and I almost have the first three chapters done so that should be solid for the next few weeks, :) But this is a write as go and I'm just going to have fun with it, soooooo I may miss a week if school decides to whoop me. 
> 
> The sea turtle is based on this http://www.hawaiianjewelryandgift.com/images/products/detail/Necklacekoawoodseaturtle3.jpg  
> OR you can see it in my tumblr post :) 
> 
> Why Copenhagen? Well I'll give you a hint, a certain Hans Christian Andersen has a monument to one of his stories there.
> 
> I am doing my best with google, but I have never been to Copenhagen so I apologize if I get anything glaringly wrong. And of course if you'd like to kindly steer me in the right direction I'd be fine with that :) For example the Lighthouse I describe later likely doesn't actually exist anywhere in the city. It's a Marvel lighthouse OK? lol.


	2. Chapter 2

Coulson's old friend introduced herself as Astrid Neilson, an older woman with kind eyes and a firm handshake. Her first order of business was to bring Jemma and Fitz to the kitchen where, since it was nearly ten o'clock local time, she'd kept leftovers for them.

Soon two hot plates of sliced pork and potatoes had been served on her pretty wooden table, Fitz's stomach grumbling loudly at the sight, much to Jemma's amusement.

"You act as if they didn't feed us on the plane," she teased, though she too was looking forward to tucking into the meal.

"That was _airplane_ food Jemma," he objected. "This is _real_ food." He turned to their host with a grateful grin. "Thank you Mrs. Neilson."

"Yes, thank you very much, it looks delicious," Jemma added politely. It really was kind of her to think of them.

Mrs. Neilson smiled at them, pulling out a chair to sit across the table where she could sip her tea as they ate.

"I'm happy you were able to come," she told them. "It's probably nothing, but you know how jumpy people are these days when there might be aliens involved. Ever since New York…" She shrugged. "I just need people knowing it's safe to visit, it's bad for business when everyone's too spooked to come."

Jemma set her fork down, leaning forward curiously. "What exactly are they afraid of?" she asked.

Fitz remained silent, his mouth full of pork. He seemed content to let her take the lead in the conversation, leaving his mouth free for food, but his eyes darted back and forth between them as he chewed.

Mrs. Neilson shook her head. "The stories are all different. Falling upon misfortune, glowing water, creatures with fins but human heads and hands. Some people are calling them mermaids."

"That's highly unlikely," Jemma assured her.

She nodded approvingly. "I think so too. But where there's strange stories, there's concern about aliens. Like those Inhumans…"

"Technically they're not aliens," Jemma told her uneasily, thinking of Daisy and how she wouldn't want to be seen as something to fear. "They're from Earth and they're not-"

"Oh don't worry," she assured them. "I'm not afraid of Inhumans. I'm sure SHIELD has everything under control."

Fitz chocked on his potato.

"We're… We're actually with the ATCU," Jemma told her quickly, wincing at the obvious lie in her voice. Maybe she'd have been a bit more believable if Fitz wasn't still coughing up his food beside her.

To their surprise, Mrs. Neilson laughed. "Coulson didn't tell you? I'm an old friend of his. We were agents together back when he was still a new recruit." She leaned closer, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "I have a few stories about that kid, if you two ever get a spare moment."

Jemma's shoulders fell in relief and Fitz was finally breathing normally again. "You're a SHIELD agent," she realized.

"Was a SHIELD agent," Astrid corrected evenly. She stirred the teabag around in her mug with a distant expression. "Then Hydra happened and I was happy just to still be kicking. A lot of us left that day, found other things to do with our lives. But I still like to help out every once and a while. I hid a couple of other ex-spies a while back… a tall American woman and a scrappy English fellow."

Jemma and Fitz exchanged a delighted glance. _Bobbi and Hunter!_

"How are they?" Fitz asked and he'd even forgotten his food for the time being as the pair of them listened intently for good news.

"They're happy," Astrid promised kindly. "Unfortunately that's all I'm allowed to tell you."

Jemma felt the sting of their departure burn up again in that formality. Their lives were out of reach now and, though she was glad they were happy, she also sorely missed them. She didn't need to see Fitz's expression to know that he did too.

Astrid's watch beeped. "Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed. "Forgive me, it's been a long day, and I know you two would probably rather get to bed but… well the sightings are more frequent at night, especially when the moon is full."

"And it's a full moon tonight isn't it?" Fitz guessed, his shoulders sagging. Jemma knew he'd been thinking longingly of a warm bed. They'd both been, but they had a job to do and Astrid _was_ nice enough to offer them a place to stay and cook them dinner in return. "Where is it you want us to go?" he asked.

"There's a lighthouse a short drive from here," she explained. "Most of the uh, 'sightings', take place there." She shook her head again at the word _sightings,_ clearly disapproving and Jemma couldn't really blame her. If it was really all nonsense and it was scaring away customers she'd probably be frustrated too. "I have a car you can borrow."

Fitz lost his battle against a yawn, shoving a hand over his mouth to cover it, but he nodded in agreement along with her.

"By tomorrow morning, the ATCU will have officially investigated the area," he promised.

/-/-/

Moonlight bathed the rocks in grey and silver but the darkness was still thick enough that they needed to rely on the lantern they'd brought to guide their way around the lighthouse. It was treacherous work, nooks and crannies waiting to swallow their feet, and Fitz swore loudly when he jammed his toes into a crevice.

"I don't see why anyone would come out here in the middle of the night," he grumbled. "It's bloody dangerous, that what it is. Maybe if we just asked people to use some common sense, we wouldn't even need to be here."

"Oh, but Fitz you don't think it's lovely out under the stars?" Jemma asked, drinking in the glowing mass of dots that painted the night the way only she could. "And the moon on the water? As far as locations for midnight dates go, I think it's lovely." She chuckled to herself. "It's a lot nicer than the rooftop Milton used to take me to. He thought it was romantic, but I didn't have the heart to tell him it smelled like pigeons."

"So… no rooftop dates then?" he teased.

Her smile caught the light of the lantern. "I actually like this much better. Better company too."

Fitz smiled back, his crankiness momentarily forgotten. "So what exactly are we looking for?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. There probably isn't even anything here but… anything that looks alien I suppose?"

"Or anyone with a tail," he joked flatly.

"I doubt it's _actually_ a mermaid they're seeing," she scoffed. "Probably a pod of dolphins, or a shark-"

"There are _sharks?_ " he exclaimed.

"Fitz, it's the sea, of course there are sharks," she deadpanned. "Don't look like that," she added, even though she'd already turned her back on him to continue searching. "It's rare to see a dolphin or a shark in this part of the sea, but you're more of a danger to them than they are to you. Sharks kill less than fifty people a year, while we kill thousands of them each day. Besides," she went on enthusiastically, "there are over four hundred species of sharks, and several of them aren't even dangerous to humans. Like the whale sharks we saw."

"They were nice," he admitted. "But I wouldn't have gotten in the water with one."

"Well, I'm not sure _I'd_ get in the water with a mermaid," she countered as they carefully stepped over another set of rocks. They were getting further out onto the outcrop now, away from the shore, and he could hear the sea on both sides of them.

"Not a fan of Ariel?" he teased.

"Mermaids aren't always friendly in those old stories," she reminded him somberly. "Remember, some tales have them generating storms or enchanting sailors to their doom. And most of the things we've seem come out of old stories have been from the bad ones."

Fitz knew she was thinking of Hive. "Well those are _Greek_ stories," he told her. "And we're in Denmark and the mermaid here saves people." He didn't want her to be afraid of the unknown, not when she'd always been so enthralled by it. "People tell stories about good things too, yeah? One day we're going find out one of _those_ stories is actually true. And we'll be right there to see it."

Jemma stopped and turned towards him, eyes softening. "Fitz…" She sounded as if she were about to say something important, whispering his name as if it were something precious, but instead she faltered, awkwardly breaking eye contact. "I… uh..." Suddenly her eyes widened, something behind him catching her attention, drawing her forward. "Fitz look at the water," she gasped.

He spun around, raising his eyebrows at what he saw.

The water was _glowing._ Pale blue, like a light at the bottom of a pool, it gurgled and swirled, faster and faster until it formed a shining whirlpool.

"What do you think it is?" she wondered, awed. The blue of the light reflected into her eyes, making her look like she was in a trance.

She'd wound around him to investigate, getting a lot closer than he liked to edge. It wasn't a far drop, but the rocks jutted out at odd angles and who knew what was making the water do _that_.

"Be careful," he warned, following a bit more cautiously.

"Oh Fitz, don't worry, I'm completely-" However, her assurance was cut off of when the water suddenly surged, sending up a wave that knocked her off balance and wet the rocks under feet so that she slipped as she tried to regain her footing.

She tumbled, barely having the time to cry out before she was engulfed by the bubbling water, and after that the light vanished and Fitz was alone with the dark sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Astrid is, of course, named after my favourite Fringe Junior FBI agent :)
> 
> My little cousin went through a shark phase, haha, that's where that came from. The number of people sharks kill might be less than that, it's just I could only find the stats by country. 
> 
> Thanks to agI03 for letting me bug you about my ideas for this story :)


	3. Chapter 3

The current pulled Jemma under the waves, spinning her like a ragdoll in a washing machine until she couldn't tell which way was up and which way led deeper into the freezing water. Panic bolted through her, her arms flailing helplessly for something to grab onto, her kicking feet frantically trying to steer her, but she was a prisoner of the current.

Just when she thought she was surely going to die here, regret and terror clawing at her stomach, fingers clamped around her arm and with one sharp tug was out of the water.

Gasping for breath, it took her nearly a minute before she realized she wasn't back on the shore, that she wasn't even out of the sea. She wasn't laying on solid ground, but something smooth and flexible, like the floor of a bouncy castle, and the clear material surrounded her like a gigantic bubble. Through it she could see black water on all sides, the only light shining above her. When she looked up, she saw the pale glow of the moon rippled by the waves.

She pushed herself up, giving the wall a tentative push with her hand. It bent a little under the pressure but remained sold.

"What…"

"Hey, don't do that!"

Jemma's head snapped towards the unfamiliar voice and what she saw made her eyes widen in disbelief.

It wasn't a human, although the top part of it looked very similar to one, and it was floating outside the bubble. Long hair covered the being's chest but from the shape of her face Jemma guessed she was a female. Her skin was grey and smooth, small scales starting just below her belly button and growing larger as they approached her tail. It was scaled and delicately finned like that of a fish, but the tail fluke faced forward like a dolphin rather than sideways like the caudal fin of a fish. Her yellow eyes bulged slightly and deep gill slits opened and closed on her neck, but there was an unearthly beauty to her that left Jemma mesmerized. She had no idea what this creature was, but it was fascinating.

"Are you an alien?" she asked breathlessly.

She grinned, revealing a row of pointed teeth as she swam closer. "You're a lot more perceptive than what I usually catch," she told her cheerfully. "Most people call me a mermaid. Which I am. But I'm an alien too. Most people don't think of that, the alien thing. For some reason they think all aliens are terrestrial, but I think that's a very narrow way to see things." He hands moved rapidly as she spoke, dancing along with her words. "You're welcome by the way."

Jemma blushed, realizing she was being rude. "Oh… right, sorry. Thank you, for saving me."

The alien shrugged, twisting to float on her back. "It's what I do. Now anyway, I didn't always play for team human. It's a good thing you weren't drowning back when I ate you guys."

"When… when you what….?" Jemma stammered.

She laughed. "Oh don't worry, I don't _now."_ She waved her hand in dismissal of the issue, although Jemma found she wasn't entirely put at ease by the gesture. "It was a big misunderstanding. Just a really big _oops_ on our part. We didn't know how complex you were. Your lives are so short we didn't know until it was too late that you had time to develop a consciousness. Can you blame us though? In less than a hundred years my little sister barely learned how stop stuffing her hand in her mouth, never mind how to _talk_. What you do with such little time is impressive." She must have sensed Jemma's apprehension. "No it's fine," she assured her. She brought up a webbed hand to hold over her heart. "Me and my sisters are officially done with human meat. It's been almost two hundred years since we last tasted it, and fish are better anyway. We wont eat you or your boyfriend."

"Fitz!" She sprang forward, pressing her palms into the side of the bubble. "Where-"

"He's safe up there," she promised, pointing towards the surface. "You were the only one who was dragged out. And… I'm really going to have to ask you not to push on that… It's a tiny bit temperamental." She waggled her hand as she spoke, looking apologetic. "We aren't allowed anything too new, it's part of our punishment."

Jemma frowned but drew her hands back. "Punishment?"

"For eating people," she explained, as if it should have been obvious. "It's bad and we have laws. That's why me and my sisters are stuck on this planet. No offense," she added. "It's just hard to find a nice girl when everyone I know is related to me, and fish is _not_ as good as the food back home. What is it with all the little prickly parts? Why do they need so many bones?"

"Don't you have bones?" Jemma asked. She examined the new creature carefully. It certainly _looked_ like she had an internal skeleton.

"Jemma!" Even distorted by the water, she could hear the panic in Fitz's voice and it tugged at her heart. "Jemma!"

"I have to get back up there," she gasped. "He'll be looking for me. If he thinks I went under-"

"Oh don't worry, my sister is keeping an eye on him," she dismissed. "She's not the brightest bulb," she added, tapping her head. "But she's a good swimmer."

"But-" she protested.

The mermaid waved her hands. "No, no, no. Wait, He'll be fine. He might think you're dead for a bit-"

"He's probably worried sick!" she exclaimed.

"He might experience some minor emotional trauma," she admitted.

Jemma bit her lip, a painful jolt crinkling her stomach when she heard him call out to her again. He was shrieking her name now, screaming for her, and she knew his terror too well to ignore it. "Please," she begged. "I'm grateful for you saving my life, I really am but-"

"Oh but that's not the only thing I'm going to do today!" the mermaid told her excitedly. She grinned, once again flashing shark-like teeth. "Because, lucky you, part of my sentence is helping out good humans like yourself!"

"You've already done more than enough," Jemma assured her brusquely.

"Well…," The mermaid made a face. "Since it was _sort of_ my fault you fell into the water in the first place… It doesn't actually count against my sentence," she told her. She shook her head, crossing her arms in annoyance. "Actually it was really my sister's fault. She upsets the water so much when she's looking for fish." The mermaid scoffed. "I mean, what, is she hunting fish or trying to displace the sea, right? Ugh, she's so annoying. Do you have any siblings?"

"JEMMA!"

She shut her eyes, his anguish manifesting into a physical ache that sat over her heart.

"Five minutes," the mermaid pleaded, and when Jemma opened her eyes she saw she holding out the digits of her flipper-like hand. "Just… Look this a really great opportunity for you. I can give you anything you want."

"I want to go back up to Fitz," she told her firmly.

"Jemma please! Answer me!"

"He's persistent, isn't he?" she remarked curiously. "Most humans would have given up by now. Not that they don't _care._ It's just been a while…."

"Fitz would never give up on me," Jemma said simply.

"It could get him killed," she pondered, looking towards his voice. "He's lucky my sister is out there, otherwise he'd be in real trouble right now."

Jemma frowned. "Yeah, he does that too," she muttered.

"Put himself in dangerous situations?" the mermaid guessed. "That must be _exhausting_. This is why I don't date humans-"

"Put himself on the line for me," she clarified.

That seemed to pique her interest. "And you don't like that?"

Didn't like it? That was an understatement. She hated it. She hated every single bruise and cut he'd gotten trying to protect her, every terrible situation he'd put himself in, every risk he'd taken.

She shook her head. "But I can't stop him. As long as we work for SHIELD…"

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" she pressed, circling the bubble.

Again, Jemma shook her head. "How?"

How could she tell him to stop? How could she ever make him listen? As long as they worked for SHIELD, there would be danger, and as long as she found herself in life-threatening situations, he'd be there ready to swap his own life for hers.

The mermaid clapped her hands, startling her out of her head. "OK, I know what I'm going to do for you!" She laughed. "This is going to be a good one, you're so lucky, I almost wish I was you so I could be this lucky too. But I don't, because legs are weird… _Anyway,_ all I need is for you to consent to it."

"Jemma! JEMMA!"

"Right, yes fine." Jemma bobbed her head up and down distractedly. "As long as you let me go back up there."

She held up her hands, offended. "Of course I will! You and your lovely piece of man meat will be reunited, safe and sound."

Jemma grit her teeth at the choice of words, but remained silent in fear of distracting her further. She could hear in his voice that Fitz was starting to lose it and she couldn't bear either of them going through that pain again, even if it were only temporary.

"Sounds wonderful," she said quickly. "I consent. You can do whatever it is."

She shot her the biggest smile yet, rolling backwards in delight. "Alright! Get ready!" she warned, rubbing her hands together. "I've never actually done this before…."

"Done what-" Jemma began, but she was cut off when the mermaid began to swim in circles around her bubble, spinning it so fast she was thrown around against the walls and the rest of whatever she was going to say came out as grunt.

Eventually, the material snapped underneath her weight and water rushed in, along with something thicker and sticky that clung to her skin and poured its way up her nose, down her throat.

Panic seized her again and she fought to cough it up, desperate for air, head spinning. She felt her legs sticking together when she tried to kick, to swim, and as hard as she tried she couldn't pull them apart.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over and she could breathe.

Several feet below the surface of the sea, with nothing but water surrounding her, she could _breathe._

/-/-/

The water was nearly up to Fitz's neck now, but he couldn't stop looking, _refused_ to stop calling her name out into the pitch black night. The darkness was a great, draining vacuum that pulled at his courage and tore away his sense of reason, leaving him blinded and terrified. He couldn't remember which way the shore was but it didn't matter, he wasn't going back until he found her.

"Jemma!"

The sea was too big, the waves too loud. How could he ever hope for her to hear him? How long had it been? Too long, he knew it had been far too long. If she were under-

"Fitz?"

His heart leapt. "Jemma!" She was close, but he couldn't see her. He could barely see his own hand in front of his face.

"Here, I'm here!"

Her freezing hands found his arm and, letting out a gasp of relief, he pulled her towards him. He couldn't see her but her breath in his ear and the feel of her arms around him were more than enough. It wasn't until he felt her hand on the back of his neck, the pad of her thumb gently stroking his skin, that he realized he was trembling.

"It's OK," she soothed. "I'm OK, I'm here."

He clutched her tighter, trying to compose himself. "You… you scared the hell out of me," he muttered. "Where-" His throat closed up, the words chocking back down as the blood drained out of him.

Something was in the water with them.

"Fitz, I need you to stay calm..." Jemma said slowly.

It was too late for calm. They were out in the open sea, in the dark, with nothing to defend themselves and no idea which way land was, and _something was in there with them._ It brushed his leg, scaly like a fish but much, _much_ bigger, as big as human. He pictured a grey fin breaking the surface, rows of teeth revealing themselves as the creature's mouth opened… as it sped towards them.

"It's a shark isn't it?" he guessed nervously. His heart was hammering against his chest, the hair rising on the back of his neck.

"It isn't-" she began, but he felt it again and, ignoring her grunt of protest, pushed her behind him.

"Stay back," he warned. "I'll distract it."

"You will not!" she objected hotly.

"Jemma we don't have time to argue-"

"Fitz it's not a shark, it's _me!"_ she shouted.

He shook his head, thinking she must have misunderstood. "No, it was a tail. A very, very _big_ tail."

"It was me," she repeated firmly. She grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands toward her waist.

"What are you do-" he began, but then he felt it. Below her blouse, instead of her legs, her body grew wider… scalier.

"What…. The hell…" he whispered.

She blew out a long breath. "I think we found what we were looking for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went with the gilled mermaid rather than the air breathing one for simplicity, but I DO have a weakness for the air breathing mermaids, just because it is such a neat idea.
> 
> I like to think of this scene as a reverse of the poor unfortunate souls scene from the little mermaid, in that Jemma is being turned into a mermaid rather than a human and the mermaid is trying to help her even though she doesn't want it, rather than trying to trick her when she does want it.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was going to rise soon. Already its light had painted the sky milky blue, fading the stars. Fitz sat with Jemma on the rocks down by the water, her new tail partially submerged in the foamy surf. Her eyes were closed and she lay her head on his lap, gripping his leg above his knee as he stroked her hair. She wasn't saying anything but he knew she wasn't sleeping. How could either of them sleep at a time like this?

Their entire night had been spent searching for the alien mermaid, after a quick call to Mrs. Neilson to explain what had happened. In truth, Jemma had done most of searching. The current was strong in this area and the waves crumbled driftwood against the jagged stones as if they were short bread, so she'd made him stay on shore even though he'd wanted more than anything to help her. His human legs just weren't as strong as her new fins and, unlike her, he almost was as helpless to the sea as the wood had been.

"Fitz, what if we can't find her?" she whispered, speaking the fear out loud for the first time. "I don't want to be a mermaid, not forever."

"You won't be," he promised.

Her hair was still damp and tangled and, knot by knot, he'd been gently combed it through with his fingers. He knew she liked it when he did that and right then he thought she could use all the comfort he could give. What had that crazy creature been thinking? That this would be a _favour?_ How could she think that this bright, wide-eyed wanderer would be content bound to the sea? The water might be larger than the land, but her life was here and so was so much unexplored wonder. So was he.

"You're absolutely right," Jemma agreed bravely. She nodded against him. "We'll get this sorted out, with or without her. We've faced worse and come back from it. It shouldn't be too difficult figuring out how to turn me back. A few years of research…." Her voice broke and he knew she was daunted by the idea of spending that long the way she was, but she continued on determinedly. "I could use the time to explore the sea, see things no one else has seen…"

"And I'll come with you when I can," he told her resolutely, even though he had very little desire of being so far under the water ever again. He couldn't leave her alone down there.

"That's _if_ we can't find her of course," Jemma added. "I'm sure… she has to be somewhere nearby and once we explain to her _why_ I can't be a mermaid, she's sure to change me back… if she _can_ change me back…"

"She will," he said, even though both knew that it might not be that simple. An egg once cooked couldn't go back to what it was before, not every forward transformation was equivalent to the backward one. "And no matter what happens, you have me," he vowed.

Jemma breathed out a weak chuckle, rolling over so that she was looking up at him, and smiled. She cradled his hand against her chest, watching him for a moment.

"We can do this," she said at last, and for the first time it sounded like she believed it.

"We can do this," he repeated steadily.

Her smile widened, but it quickly vanished when they heard the sound of human voices carried from the shore.

"Fitz…."

"You have to hide," he warned. They'd seen what frightened people did to Inhumans, neither of them wanted to take a chance on them discovering her. An image of her caught up in some net, put in an aquarium like a tropical fish or, worse, hung up on a wall somewhere like a trophy, wormed its way into his head. "Jemma go!" he hissed.

She didn't need telling twice. Maybe her imagination wasn't as wild as his was, but she wasn't at all keen on being spotted and with a splash she was off, darting away like a dolphin. The ripples she'd left were the only reminder that she'd even been there.

/-/-/

It was dark beneath the waves, murky green water limiting her vision and, combined with the silence, it was beginning to make Jemma feel terribly isolated.

She was far enough from the shore that she didn't need to fight the waves anymore now but swimming with a tail was still new and awkward. For Fitz's sake, because she didn't want him to worry or worse go in with her, she'd overplayed its simplicity.

It was true she was a much _stronger_ swimmer than she'd been as a human, but steering… well that was another story altogether. Her tail wasn't smooth like Ariel's was, like the alien mermaid it had an extra fin near the top. She knew it was for better maneuverability, but she couldn't quite figure out how to make it work properly and she'd sent herself into a barrel roll more than once when she'd decided to try picking up speed.

In addition to all of that, soaked in the water, her shirt felt heavy and cumbersome and she was sure it wasn't helping her situation that it interfered with the flow of water around her. She almost considered taking it off and wearing only her bra, but where would she put it where she could find it again? And what if someone _saw her?_

After yet another failed attempt to swim in a straight line, Jemma let herself give up for the time being. Drifting on her back, she stared up at the shimmer of light on the surface of the sea that was the morning sun, and wondered how much longer she needed to wait before she went looking for Fitz.

They'd agreed to meet him back at the lighthouse if they were separated, but she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to tell if there was someone else there who could spot her. She was wondering despairingly if she were going to need to wait for night to fall again, when something in the water caught her attention.

It was as if someone were calling out to her except, after a moment, she realized that she wasn't _hearing_ anything at all. It wasn't a sound but rather a feeling inside her head, a friendly but wordless greeting.

When she didn't answer, it tried again, confused now.

"Hello?" she called. Speaking underwater felt strange, the gill slits on her neck vibrating with each word, but her voice came out as clear as it ever was on land.

 _'We're coming!'_ Once again, the thought was information without words, along with an emotion. This time it was excitement.

Peering out into the water, she caught sight of a shadowy shape. Then she saw another, and another, all pelting towards her at breath taking speed.

_Dolphins._

Within a few heartbeats the pod had surrounded her, clicking and twisting to see her from every angle. They seemed as fascinated by her as she was by them and they moved through the water with effortless grace, swimming upside down or right side up, circling around her or speeding away. Gorgeous steaks of grey against the green, they engulfed her within their group. They were bottlenose dolphins, not unheard of in this part of sea but certainly an oddity, and there must have been at least twenty of them altogether.

_Lost?_

Once again, a concept instead of a word, and with a start she realized that it was coming from one of them. She followed the thought, feeling it like a string, and found it came from the one floating to her right. It watched her with one eye, using its flippers to keep itself in place.

She shook her head, jaw hanging open. _I'm talking to a dolphin. An actual dolphin._ Her incredulity froze her to the spot. She was afraid if she moved this would stop and it would all be over. And she really, _really_ didn't want it to be over.

It sent her a feeling she couldn't put a name to, a mixture of fear and sadness that she recognized instantly as her own.

 _Why?_ It seemed to ask.

How was she supposed to explain any of it in a way they'd understand? Did dolphins know about aliens and transformations?

Well, they knew about being afraid, and they knew about being sad. From a childhood spent reading about them, she was pretty sure they also had a sense of family, and what it was to miss someone. So she showed them Fitz, and her home on the land, doing her best to send with it her sense of loss.

This seemed to confuse it even further. It swam forward, prodding her tail with its nose, and she realized it wasn't understanding how she could move freely on the land as she was showing them. She showed it an image of herself, with legs, and it sent her back what could only be described as a wave of surprise.

The others had been ease dropping on the conversation and now she was bombarded with a symphony confused demands for an explanation. It wasn't threatening in the slightest, more like a squad of school children who'd just seen their first chemical reaction.

All she could think to do was replay the scene in her mind, in as much detail as she could, to her eager audience.

Another cacophony of thoughts, this time too varied and too overlapping to translate, and she had to wait for them to die down before she caught one that piqued her interest.

It was an image of the alien mermaid, but with a positive feeling attached to it. This dolphin liked her. Not only that, it _knew her_. New images of her poured out if and Jemma locked onto to it eagerly.

 _'I need to find her,"_ she thought. _"Please, she can help me."_ To make her point clearer, she conjured up an image of the mermaid and thought _where?_ as firmly as she could.

It replied, regretfully, that it didn't know. It sent another thought though, searching, looking, _helping._

"You'll help?" she asked, forgetting in her excitement that words meant nothing to these creatures. Nevertheless, the thought got through.

 _Yes. Yes. Yes._ More than one dolphin answered and she sensed the pod was all in agreement on the new task.

 _'Why?'_ she couldn't help wondering.

The first dolphin mirrored back her earlier feelings. _Fear, sadness._ They didn't want her to be sad. What remarkable creatures they were! It was incredible! Not only did they possess a deep emotional understanding and sense of compassion, but they were willing to extend it to someone they had only just met. And _on top of all that_ they were commutating _telepathically._ Something about the whole scenario reminded her irresistibly of her Fitz.

 _'Thank you!'_ she thought, grinning like the Cheshire cat as she bobbed her head up and down for no reason in particular. _'Thank you so much! If you could find her that could fix everything!"_

They must have thought she was so strange, but they seemed to like her anyway. One of the smaller ones followed her nod with its own head, as if trying to figure out why she was doing it, and they accepted her gratitude happily.

And so, Jemma Simmons became the first human to discover the telepathic ability of dolphins on the same day that she and Fitz uncovered the truth about mermaids. She would have counted it as one of the better days of her career with SHIELD, if only she hadn't also had her legs swapped out for a fish tail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the tumblr anon for your info on dolphins near Copenhagen :) 
> 
> SO I did come across some pages that seem to think dolphins have a collective mind. In this world, who knows? But in Marvel.... well it wouldn't be the strangest thing haha. 
> 
> for the art that goes with this, see my tumblr :)


	5. Chapter 5

It was late in the day when, at last, Fitz spotted Jemma in the water. She'd been waiting out a pair of tourists wanting pictures of the old lighthouse. It had been agonizing watching them take their sweet time posing in front of it, frolicking around like Bambi and Thumper, even stopping to _literally_ sniff a patch of flowers. They took at least six of their pictures together, pressing cheeks and grinning at their camera in a way that reminded him painfully of Jemma, made him miss her all the more fiercely.

That had been them, only a week ago, and now look where they'd ended up? It could have been worse- _had_ been much, much worse a number of times over, but they were still separated. He was tired, tired of worrying, tired of the world tearing them apart from each other. And he was angry too, that all of it kept happening over and over, a bitterness he couldn't help taking out on the tourists now, glaring at them from the shadows.

 _'Alright, alright, you've got fifteen pictures of the damn lighthouse and I'm sure you have plenty more pictures of you two making those stupid faces.'_ He thought irritably. _'Now move along people, it's just an old hunk of stone, you've got the whole bloody city to see. Of all the places to take your sweet time. Do you know about the Tivoli Gardens? Or the Rosenborg Castle? I'd ask for my money back for that tour book you're following because it's absolute rubbish if it's telling you to spend so long on this sorry rock._

He wasn't being fair, he knew, but it didn't stop him from stewing and his internal grumblings made him feel at least marginally better. He felt better still though, when he was at last reunited with her.

"Fitz I've got so much to tell you!" Jemma greeted, flashing him a surprisingly toothy smile when he met her down by the water's edge. He made sure to pick a place that dropped steeply enough that it'd be easy for her to swim close. "You'll never guess what I found. I met a pod of dolphins and they actually really seem to like Mermaids."

As if to prove her point, a pair of dorsal fins appeared a few meters behind her and another dolphin briefly popped its head out of the water to catch a glimpse of him.

"That's great," he told her earnestly. He was glad that her spirits were up, though he didn't understand why she was so fixated on them at the moment. They had a much more pressing matter bearing down on them. "But… uh… Jemma I've been thinking…."

"They're not like I imagined they'd be," she chirped on, missing what he'd said in her excitement. "I mean, as a girl I _adored them_ , I would have been beside myself at the chance to meet a wild one but-"

"Jemma it's about what we're going to do next-"

"Fitz, they're capable of telepathy!"

That froze him. He blinked at her a few times, thinking he must not have heard her properly.

"They're… they're-"

"Telepathic!" she repeated, bouncing along to the waves as she spoke. "And it isn't just them, all dolphins are capable of it. They share ideas, memories, emotions. It must be the reason the limbic system of their brain is so well developed! One dolphin doesn't just feel what _its_ feeling, it feels what the rest of its pod feels as well!"

"That's… and they've been doing this all along?" he marveled. The things she got up to when he left her alone.

Her head bobbed and even with everything that was happening, Fitz couldn't help his heart melting a bit at how adorably enthusiastic she was about the new discovery. She'd gone through a marine life phase just before puberty and he knew that a love of the ocean and its mysteries was still ingrained into her soul. That they might have just uncovered another one, an entire new avenue to explore, had her practically glowing.

"Fitz its incredible, the things they feel, they're so much like us," she bubbled. "It's a bit difficult navigating their thoughts sometimes but-"

" _You're_ telepathic too now?!" he exclaimed. What else had that mermaid done to her?

She shook her head. "Not exactly. It seems- and it's a bit difficult to decipher exactly what they are trying to tell me- but it _seems_ as if mermaids are capable of interacting with telepathic species, but cannot actively perform telepathy themselves. It's as if…" She frowned, trying to grasp onto an explanation. "It's as if the dolphins are creating the messaging system and I'm only using it. I'd call it telepath-sensitive."

"So you can't read my mind?" he reasoned.

That made her smile. "It depends on the day. But not like the dolphins can. And Fitz there's more-"

"Actually Jemma there's something I need to talk to you about-" he began, casting aside his amazement for the time to deal with their current problem.

She wasn't listening though, once again caught up in her excitement. "I've been paying close attention to how they're communicating and think they might also-"

"I think maybe we should call Radcliffe," he blurted. There it was, he'd said it. The idea that had been bearing down on him for the better part of three hours now finally free between them.

Unsurprisingly, this stopped Jemma midsentence and she crossed her arms, frowning at him. "Why?"

"He's the world's leading expert on transhumanism-" he elaborated.

"And a coward who only thinks about himself!" she objected, thrashing her tail so that a spray of salty water splashed up around her. "Fitz, how do we know _he_ wont lock me up in a lab somewhere?"

"I'd never let him," Fitz growled, stomach boiling at the very idea.

"And how do we know he wont simply take what he needs and throw us back in when he's done?" she demanded, and he was almost proud of her on topic use of the idiom. She shifted backwards, ripples spreading away from her waist, and shook her head stubbornly. "We can't trust him."

"Well all we have right now is dolphins!" he pointed out, throwing his hands up in frustration. Surely she could see how desperate the situation was becoming?

She made a face. "Excuse me, but the dolphins have been incredibly accommodating-"

"You just met them-"

"-and I trust them far more than I trust _Radcliffe!"_

One of the dolphins poked its head out of the water, clicking at him as it watched their argument, and Fitz eyed it warily before leaning forward to whisper his next point to Jemma.

"How do we know they don't… you know," he hissed, nodding his head in the direction of the animal in question.

"Fitz they're wild dolphins, they don't understand you," she told him impatiently. "She can only understand me because we communicate telepathically, meanings not words. It's not a substitute for actual language of course, and I don't think that's what they use it for, but I think with enough time we could learn to decipher some of their dialects-"

"Dialects?" His surprise veered him off topic. "You mean-"

"It's common knowledge that not all dolphins' communication is identical," she told him. "And I'm surprised you didn't know that."

"I did know that, obviously," he defended hotly. "But you're speaking as if-"

"As if they have a language?" she finished, grinning excitedly. "That's what I've been trying to tell you Fitz, I think they _do_ have a language! Multiple languages in fact!"

He mulled over the, admittedly exciting, idea for a moment. Then her remembered the more pressing problem at hand and shook his. "Alright, but how are they going to find the mermaid? And how do we know they don't…." He cast another suspicious glance at the dolphin, despite Jemma's assurances, lowering his voice. "How do we know they don't work for her?"

Jemma scoffed. "And what would she be paying them in? Fish?"

"Maybe dolphins are aliens too," he pointed out, receiving another look of searing skepticism.

"You do realize how ridiculous that sounds," she deadpanned.

"I don't know Jemma," he exclaimed helplessly. "You met an alien fish woman who turned your legs into a set of fins and now you're communing psychically with the local wildlife! You tell me what sounds ridiculous."

She groaned, dropping her head into the water so that what she said next was muffled and incomprehensible.

"What?" he asked, knelling down to try and hear her.

When she lifted her head her face was a shade paler. "What have we gotten ourselves into Fitz?" she whispered.

His frustration dissolved at her unhappiness. He knew she was scared right now, that knowledge squeezed around his heart, and with a splash he sank down into the water with her, opening his arms when she swam towards him.

"I don't trust him," she repeated, and even though she spoke into his shirt and her words were once again muffled, he understood. "What if he makes it worse? What if we find the mermaid and _she_ makes it worse? Maybe we should just try fixing it ourselves…"

"It could take us years," he reminded her.

She groaned again, burying herself into his chest as if she were trying to hide there. "I miss my legs. I can barely swim in a straight line. I'm not meant to be a mermaid, even the dolphins know it, though they're very polite about it." She sighed. "I suppose we could call him."

"We don't have too," he said softly. It was her tail after all, he didn't want to push her into something she was uncomfortable with.

"I think we do Fitz," she answered somberly. "I don't… I miss you. I miss the land. I miss my legs and-" Her stomach grumbled, adding to the list. "And I'm _not_ keen on eating raw fish for supper."

Of course. Fitz nearly smacked himself, he'd almost forgotten the other thing he'd wanted to talk to her about. He was hoping she'd like it a lot more than his suggestion about Radcliffe.

"I have something that might help with that," he told her, smiling when she looked up at him. "I had a bit of spare time on my hands and I decided to get something that might make you a bit more comfortable."

/-/-/

Fitz gave her instructions to meet him at an old dock a bit further outside of the city. It was pretty, sitting in a sheltered little inlet. There were no roads or houses in sight and large trees grew along the water only a few meters away from the sandy shoreline.

At the end of the dock, was a small boat that Fitz told her he'd rented for the week. It had a cabin and a small platform at the back that allowed easy access to the water. He'd made a cover over the platform with a tarp and hung a net off the edge of it, submerging like an underwater hammock.

"I uh… I wasn't sure how you were planning to sleep," he told her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "But I thought…" He shrugged self-consciously, nodding his head towards his creation.

It was then that she realized the hammock was for her, noting with a pang of longing how absolutely inviting it did look. "It's lovely," she told him gratefully. He watched, a slight smile lighting his face at her praise, as she swam to the edge of it, feeling the silk-like rope beneath her fingers. "May I?"

He gave a little bow that made warmth blossom in her chest. "Be my guest."

Grinning, she hopped in, allowing herself to become completely submerged as she settled into it, pumping water over her gills to breathe. Some internal mechanism allowed her to control her buoyancy and she sank onto the netting, closing her eyes happily when it felt like a bed.

"Fitz, it's perfect," she murmured. She almost could have fallen asleep right then, except they still had so much to do before that and her stomach was still growling unhappily at her.

"What?" She heard him, muffled by the water, and realized she needed to surface for him to understand her.

"I said it's perfect," she repeated, sitting up and leaning her arms on the back platform where he sat. The net held her weight, allowing her to sit comfortably in the water.

She held out her hand and he took it, smiling fondly at her. "I have something else for you too. Wait here."

He stood and disappeared into the cabin to retrieve the next surprise, however she smelled it before he'd reappeared, the rich aroma all the stronger for her empty stomach.

When he emerged he was holding a plateful of open faced sandwiches in both hands, two beers tucked under his arm. Dangling around his wrist was the top part of her bikini. It was a beautiful sight.

He set down the plate in front of her and she cast him a look of absolute adoration. It was strange, usually he was the one getting excited about food, but it had been an entire day since she'd eaten anything and the spread of cheeses, herbs and meats looked absolutely fantastic.

Eating was going to have to come before changing, so she dug in right away. Fitz opened her beer for her as she took a bite of the first sandwich, closing her eyes and letting out a quiet groan.

"How did I manage to find such a perfect boyfriend?" she asked, making him blush with the earnestness of the question.

"It's only sandwiches," he mumbled modestly. "You make a better one."

She grinned approvingly. "I do, but it isn't only sandwiches." She flicked her tail, gesturing to the semi-permanent home he'd made for her. "It's all of it."

His glowing eyes snagged her heart and she pulled herself up beside him, dripping water onto the platform as she did. Her fingers found his neck and she kissed him, feeling as she did that as long as they had each other nothing could be so terrible, and there would be always precious moments of joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google says open faced sandwiches are a thing in Denmark? Anyway, I googled it and it looks really goooood <3
> 
> Fitz designs the perfect mermaid sleeping bed. No one is surprised.


	6. Chapter 6

They decided to meet Radcliffe out on the sea, Fitz riding in his little boat and Jemma swimming a safe distance away, along with a few curious dolphins.

The entire situation fascinated them. Everything from Jemma's transformation to their attempts to turn her back, to the bed Fitz had made for her out of the net and the strange food she'd been eating. It seemed that dolphins had as few chances to speak with humans as humans did with them. They were wary of boats though, and nets, sending her flashes of fear in warning whenever she swam too close. Motors were not safe. Nets could tangle you and drown you.

Her gills of course prevented the later, but she steered clear of the boat. The net didn't scare her, on the contrary with all the swimming she'd been doing, her jet lag, her sleepless night, she was very much looking forward to nestling in for the night. Would she need a blanket? Did mermaids get cold? Would she miss Fitz sleeping next to her?

Only when the motor was off, the boat bobbing in the waves, did she approach, meeting Fitz at the back.

Fitz lay flat on his stomach at the back of the boat so they could be at eye level. "How are you holding up?" he asked.

She smiled, reaching out to give his arm a fond squeeze. "I could use a good long nap."

All at once, the dolphins sent out a warning and a humming sounded in her ears through them. It was like the sound Fitz's motor had made under the water but louder, bigger. She turned her head towards the source, Fitz automatically following the motion, and together they caught sight of what must have been Radcliffe's boat.

Even from a distance, it looked more like a floating house. A massive, lumbering thing with a cabin three stories tall and a wide luxurious front deck. She supposed it made sense, he'd said he had a laboratory and all the equipment they'd need for a proper examination. How and why he already had the thing were questions for another day.

"I guess it'll have to wait," Fitz told her apologetically. He pushed himself up to help her into the net when she swam sideways towards it. "Good idea, you'll be safer in here." She wasn't sure if he meant from Radcliffe or his mammoth of a boat. Both probably.

"The dolphins are leaving," she said. "They don't like boats and I don't want them getting mixed up in all of this. And we shouldn't tell Radcliffe about them," she added.

Fitz nodded. "Agreed."

"And we need to establish a few ground rules," she went on hastily, keenly aware of the other boat's impending arrival. "He's not touching me. If he needs a sample, one of us takes it."

Another solemn nod from Fitz. Maybe communicating with the dolphins was tricking her mind into feeling things, but she was sure she could sense the waves of protectiveness dancing around him and she was glad that she wasn't going to be alone for this. As much as she loathed his infuriating inclination for self sacrifice, his hand on her arm and his guarding gaze made the world feel just a bit safer.

"And I'll keep a record over everything we give him," he reminded her. As of yet, they hadn't found anything waterproof enough for her to create and store data on, so it'd all be up to Fitz. "We'll be expecting it all back in the end. And I'm not leaving him alone with you. I've seen how fast you are in the water, but on the land you're… well-"

"I'm a fish out of water," she finished dryly. She was well aware how helpless she'd be. It was the reason she liked the net so much, she didn't need to get out of the water onto the dry surface where she could barely move. "I'll need to move onto the platform for a proper examination of course." Another unsettling thought.

Briefly, she considered asking for her shirt back, but she knew that she would only need to remove it for the examination anyway. He'd need to see where her tail met her torso, so her swimsuit would be much more convenient. She took a few breaths, trying to calm herself. It was more upsetting than she'd realized it'd be, being the one who'd transformed. She was frightened of her own body, frightened because people might want to hurt her because of it, and frightened because suddenly she didn't know how to use it.

Fitz caught her hands and she realized she'd been pulling at her fingers. His skin was warm and he rubbed the back of her palms soothingly with his thumb. "You're sure about this?" he whispered.

She swallowed before tilting her head to meet his eyes. What a treasure it was, to have him always on her team. He meant his offer to back out, however she chose to move forward, he was with her. Warmth swelled in her chest, her love for him coursing through every inch of her, and she wondered if she should tell him now, now that it was so close to the surface, exactly what she was feeling.

Fear tangled the words before they reached her lips, drowning them like the nets the dolphins had warned her of and she wondered what she was so afraid of that it was holding her back. It made no sense to be hesitant, she knew what she wanted and she trusted him, but timing had never been their strength and what if it were too soon? Too late?

Shifting her attention back to his question, she cast him a worn smile and nodded. "I'm sure."

He smiled back, stronger than she felt, and tucked a salty strand of hair behind her ear. "OK then."

/-/-/

Radcliffe anchored his boat and tied Fitz's to it so they'd stay together before boarding. They'd already told him what to expect over the secure line, so he was already bubbling on with much more excitement than Fitz liked.

"So where is our modified friend?" he asked brightly, practically skipping beside him. "I'd love to get a hold of the technology that transformed her as well, if we can. If we manage to find that mermaid again."

"The first thing we'll be doing is asking her to change Jemma back," Fitz reminded him sternly. _And we're not your friends._

Jemma was waiting in the net, watching their approach nervously. Her finger needled at the deck and when he kneeled down to help her onto the stretcher they'd brought to transport her, he resisted the urge to still them with his hand over hers. She wouldn't want him drawing attention to her anxiousness.

Radcliffe stepped forward. "Do you need any assit-"

"No," they snapped in unison.

If their hostility ruffled him, he didn't show it. His eyes were glued to Jemma's tail, filling with rapt fascination as she settled onto stretcher.

"Remarkable," he muttered. "How much mobility do you have?"

"Not much on land," Jemma kidded, though she moved her tail to show him what he was asking for. "Up and down is where I have the most power and flexibility," she told him, waggling her tail for show. "Side to side is more limited and it feels a bit strained when I try to go very far."

"Scaly like a fish, but moves like a mammal," he marveled. "Strange how it turns into skin at your torso."

"Hers didn't," Jemma told him. "The alien was all scales. And her fingers were webbed." She splayed out her own, "Mine are not."

"But you have the gill slits on your neck," he added, tilting his head to see. "Are you certain you wouldn't want to keep them? I'm sure your work might call for a situation where it'd be useful to breathe underwater."

She and Fitz exchanged a glance before she shook her head. "I'd like to get back to my old self again. We have no idea what the long term effects of having them on land would be. It's quite a bit of fragile tissue I'd be carrying around with me and I'd guess it's highly vascularized."

Fitz frowned, increasingly disturbed by the potential problems she was listing. She hadn't even touched on her increased risk of infection, or drying out. Suddenly she felt far too exposed out of the water.

"Fair enough," Radcliffe admitted, though the hunger in his expression hadn't left. "And your internal anatomy? Do you have any clues as to how it's been rearranged? Where did your anus end up?"

Jemma slapped her tail onto the deck in annoyance, spraying up water from the puddle she'd left.

"That's not exactly the kind of question-" Fitz began irritably.

"If you've brought proper imaging equipment like you said you would, you wouldn't need to ask that question," Jemma huffed. "You _did_ bring your equipment?"

Finally offended, Radcliffe stood to gesture towards his great boat. "What do you think I'm keeping in there, goats?"

' _It wouldn't have surprised us,'_ Fitz thought grumpily, preparing to lift his end of the stretcher to carry Jemma onto the madman's boat. He felt as if he'd swallowed a mango pit. _'I just hope we aren't walking into something crazier.'_

/-/-/

"Fitz what's going on?"

Jemma squirmed uncomfortably in the shallow pool she'd been given to sit in. It was long enough for her to stretch out, and deep enough for her to submerge her entire body every once and a while, but she still felt a whale in a fish tank. On top of that, it had to be placed a fair distance away from much of the equipment and she couldn't see _anything_ that they were looking at.

"You've been pretty rewired down there," Radcliffe told her sounding infuriatingly as if he'd just stumbled upon some shiny new toy. "Look at that… I wouldn't have expected… well it does make sense I suppose…"

_"_ _Fitz,"_ she whined. "What is he talking about?"

Her boyfriend wore a much more appropriate expression of discomfort. "You… you look a lot like a whale," he told her unhappily.

Like a whale? What sort of description was _that?_ She looked like a _whale?_ In what sense? Her musculature? Her skeleton? Why couldn't they be more specific?

"Let me see!" Her hands grabbed for his tablet and Fitz obliged after transferring the images. He watched her uneasily as she stared down at them.

Oh God, she _did_ look like a whale. Where were her bones? Where had her legs gone? Her pelvis? How had her spine stretched down so far?

_What did she do to me?!_

"Hey." Fitz's hands slipped over hers, holding the tablet with her and she realized she'd had it in a vice grip.

"I'm a whale," she muttered, unable to meet his gaze. What were they supposed to do about _that?_

Fitz kissed her forehead, unthawing her enough that her shoulders dropped and she realized she'd been sitting as stiff as a wooden doll. "We've only just started."

It had been meant as a comfort but rather than soothe her it only made her stomach churn. What more were they going to find? What did the rest of her body look like on the inside? She swallowed, doing her best to focus on Fitz's thumbs running over her fingers, on breathing in and out.

"I wonder if she's messed around at the genetic level," Radcliffe pondered, unaware or unperturbed by her despair. Fitz shot him a look but Jemma perked up at the suggestion.

"If she did, would we be able to reverse what happened with gene therapy?" she asked.

Radcliffe smiled, a kid in a candy store. "It'd certainly be a challenge! But if there's anyone who can do it, it's us all together. Three of the greatest minds working on the same project." The thought put another wide grin on his face and he slid over to retrieve a sampling kit. "I'll need some blood, and a biopsy of your tail."

He really believed he could do it. More than that, he _wanted to_.

Jemma frowned. "Why are you helping us?" she asked.

The question confused him. "Because you asked me to."

"And you don't want anything in return?"

He shrugged. "Only a chance to work with you, to learn more about your incredible transformation."

"But why help change me back?" she wondered. "I thought you were in support of transhumanism. Wouldn't changing me back to my old self be counterproductive?"

"You've got me all wrong," he told her, shaking his head in disapproval. "I'm not _forcing_ anyone to change if they don't want to."

She and Fitz raised their eyebrows in disbelief, remembering the Inhuman monsters he'd helped create.

"Of my own free will!" he defended. "But you don't want to have a tail. Transhumanism is about controlling our own abilities and you aren't in control here."

It was a surprisingly reasonable argument. And Fitz was right, this was only the start. Maybe with the three of them working together the mountain before them wouldn't be as monstrous as it seemed.

She straightened her tail out in front of her. "Alright then, I'll give you a sample." When Radcliffe moved forward eagerly, she held up her hand. "But _Fitz_ is going to be the one taking it."

Radcliffe seemed a bit disappointed at the missed opportunity to prod at a mermaid tail, but he handed the needle to a glaring Fitz with a good natured shrug. "Fair enough."

/-/-/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by, the whale skeleton at the museum of nature XD Does Jemma have those tiny little hip bones? Who knows????
> 
> Could gene therapy turn you into a mermaid??? I seriously doubt it, or at least it'd take a long time. Instantaneous transformation like this, that mermaid had to have been playing around with time!


	7. Chapter 7

All around her was water, as far as she could see in any direction. She looked down, a sinking abyss. She looked up, a mirror image of what was below her. It was an ocean with no surface and no bottom. All there was was water and she was all alone.

“Hello?” It was doubtful that her cries would ever reach anyone, but she was scared and she missed people, missed one person most of all. “Fitz?”

On que, a light flicked on behind her and she spun around to see that, no, the water wasn’t endless. It ended in a glass wall. On the other side of that wall, in the air, looking in as if he were at an aquarium, stood Fitz.

He looked sad, though she didn’t understand why. She didn’t understand why he was there and she wasn’t. She tried to move her legs, to kick out towards him but to her horror they were stuck together. Not bound, she quickly realized, but fused into a single tail.

How had she forgotten?

A loud tap pulled her attention back to the glass, and she saw Fitz being pulled away by two faceless men, kicking and screaming for them to let him go back to her.

“No! Wait!” She tried to swim to him but her tail spun her the wrong way and she turned in a circle instead.

When she’d righted herself he was gone, the light turned off so that all she could see in the glass was her own self reflected back, not human Jemma, but mermaid Jemma. Mermaid Jemma all alone.

Her eyes flew open and, finding she was once again under the water, she panicked, bolting to the surface where she could feel the still air on her cheeks. She gulped it in hungrily, slowly waking up to understand that she hadn’t been drowning, hadn’t been deprived of oxygen. Her hands drifted up to her neck, fingers self-consciously tracing along the edges of her gills. She wanted them gone. Her tail too. She wanted her legs back, her life back.

As she caught her breath, she noticed a dark shape out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to find Fitz laying on the deck beside her net. She blinked at him, her surprise quickly giving way to a kind of fond exasperation.

_That silly man, he’ll catch a chill out here. He told me he was going to sleep inside._

Maybe he hadn’t thought she’d be safe all alone, or maybe he’d know she’d feel better with him there. Maybe _he_ felt better sleeping at least somewhat next to her. They hadn’t shared a bed for long, but it felt so natural now it was difficult to picture living her life any differently.

He frowned in his sleep, curling around himself to stave off the cold, and with a sigh she pulled herself onto the deck. He didn’t stir when she’d tucked the blanket back around him, he actually seemed to fall deeper into sleep and she remembered that he must have been as exhausted as she was.

Jemma didn’t know why she wasn’t cold. She did know many marine mammals had strategies for dealing with the thermally demanding underwater life, but she also knew many of them involved blubber which she hadn’t acquired. Something was keeping her core body temperature at a toasty 37 degrees Celsius, but they’d yet to figure out exactly what.

Not bothered by the cool air, she lay down next to her bundled up love, watching sleepily for any other signs that he was uncomfortable. He didn’t seem it, and he was sleeping in a thick sweater and a pair of wool socks, she thought he’d probably be alright sleeping out here, even if it was on a hard floor instead of the soft bed Radcliffe had provided him.

“I hope you know that you’re absolutely ridiculous,” she whispered, but her voice was more loving than scolding.

How absurd her dream had been; who could possibly take him away? He would always come for her, whatever walls came up in his path. Who could ever hope to keep them apart for long? The universe had tried over and over and failed each time. Why would now be any different? He was hers, and she was his and that was how it was always going to be.

It did feel better having him next to her, even if the deck wasn’t as comfortable as her net, and before she had a chance to realize what was happening, her eyes were drifting shut and she was falling fast into deep thick sleep.

/-/-/

“Dr. Simmons.” It wasn’t Fitz’s voice that woke her the next morning, but Radcliffe’s, uncharacteristically tense. “Dr. Simmons we have a problem!”

Blinking out of sleep, she quickly became aware of the slimy mass encasing her. Opening her eyes, she saw to her horror that it had spread across to Fitz. His portion covered his entire body, a great green glob that encased him like an insect trapped in sap. Through it, all she could see was a shadow. And he wasn’t moving.

“Fitz!” Forgetting her tail, she tried to stand and slid on the goopy surface, slipping with a yelp into the water.

Instantly, the goop disintegrated, leaving her free of it and a greenish cloud floating around her when she resurfaced.

“Get him into the water!” she cried. “Get it off! He can’t breathe!”

How long had he been in there? Why had she allowed herself to fall asleep?! It was stupid, stupid and irresponsible to allow herself to sleep on dry land and now her poor Fitz was paying for it.

Panicked, Radcliffe gave him a jerky shove and he tumbled, not into the net, but into the sea.

“No! What are you doing!” she shrieked.

She only heard the start of his distraught apology though, already she was diving after Fitz. He couldn’t move, couldn’t swim. What had she done to him?

_No. No Fitz, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, please be OK. Please…_

When she reached him, he was free of the binding substance and she was shocked to find his eyes wide open, bright and alert. His chest was slowly rising and falling, almost as if… as if he were _breathing._

“Jemma?” His words weren’t muffled, they were clear like hers had been, and she realized that he was _breathing the water._ “What-“

Apparently realizing where he was, he let out a strangled gasp, his limbs flailing in a terror as if he were drowning. He must have just woken up, seemingly into a nightmare.

“It’s alright,” she told him firmly. Soon he noticed, like she had that night, that he wasn’t starved for oxygen, and he stopped, allowing her to catch hold of his hand. “It’s alright, you’re…. well you’re….” She trailed off, at a loss. She took his other hand, rubbing her it with her thumb to stop it from trembling. “Well you’re breathing the water,” she finished at last.

Marveled now, Fitz glanced around, his eyes apparently unbothered by the salt, as he laced their fingers together. When he turned back to her he was almost smiling and, floating together in the open sea, he felt more within reach than he had since she’d transformed. He was in her element, as comfortable as she was now, with her hand in his.

“How is this happening?” he asked. “How-“

He paled, chocking, and suddenly, whatever had been happening a moment ago wasn’t happening anymore and he was underneath the sea with lungs full of salt water.

Jolted back into panic mode, Jemma reacted instantly, grabbing him and swimming with one powerful stroke to break the surface, where he could spew out the water and the slime and gasp in air as she helped him back onto the boat.

“Oh good, he’s alive!” Radcliffe at least was happy to see them. “That’s it Fitz, keep coughing.” For once Jemma was grateful for his interference as he hauled Fitz onto the safety of the deck. “You really had us worried there!”

Jemma could only watch in silence as he caught his breath, tongue tied in knots and a stone in her stomach. _I nearly killed him. Just sleeping next to him, I nearly killed him._ She’d never felt like this before, never felt dangerous in a way she couldn’t control, and it was terrifying.

“We need to figure out what happened to him,” she said breathlessly. “We need to… he needs a full physical. We have no idea what that substance might have done to him.”

“Well I certainly have the equipment for that…” Radcliffe told her. He stood but continued to hover around Fitz uncertainly.

“Well get it ready then,” she barked.

As Radcliffe scampered off, she hauled herself up onto the deck, dragging her tail behind her. Fitz was breathing almost normally at this point, and he placed a hand on her tail reassuringly as he allowed her to check him over. She took his face between her hands, checking his eyes, his hears, his nose, for… she wasn’t sure what exactly, but anything out of the ordinary.

“Jemma I’m fine,” he promised.

“We don’t know that,” she muttered. “We have no idea what that goop…” She grit her teeth, taking her hands back. “I shouldn’t be touching you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he objected. “You were touching me all day yesterday and I was fine.”

A lack of acute effects didn’t rule out chronic ones. He should know that.

She moved her tail away from him. “I shouldn’t have put you in danger like that.”

He snorted. “ _Me_ in danger? Jemma how do we know you’re not the one we need to be checking over? What if being on land too long hurt _you?_ ”

“You mean the goop was a symptom of poor health?” She hadn’t thought of that.

Fitz shook his head, clearly disapproving. “You spend so much time worrying about other people but you need to remember yourself.”

 _She_ needed to worry about herself? It was almost laughable, to hear it coming from him of all people. “You don’t think you’re being a little hypocritical with that statement?” she asked dryly.

“Oh _c’mon_ Jemma,” he grumbled. “You never think of what you need. Remember how you told me why you left after I was hurt? You did that for me, didn’t even consider what might happen to you. Didn’t you ever worry what I might think? That I might not understand? You’re telling me you never thought it’d be easier for you to stay? Did you even once think about how much danger you’d be in?”

“Of course I considered all that,” she shot back. “But I did what was best-“

“-what was best for me,” he finished, and she scowled at how he sounded as if he’d just proven a point.

“And did you think about what might happen to you when you were risking your life looking for _me_?” she countered crossly. “Or when you jumped through that portal? Fitz you had no idea what was on the other side of it!”

“Yeah, I did actually,” he countered hotly. “I knew you were there. Didn’t you wonder what you were going to find on that plane ascending into the stratosphere when you were suiting up for your midair transfer?”

 _‘I knew you were there,’_ she thought. ‘ _And that was all that mattered.’_ It was quickly becoming clear that this argument could only chase itself in circles.

Fitz took her silence as a victory, and for once she wasn’t sure she had anything to stop him. “We’re not that different,” he asserted.

He wasn’t wrong. What wouldn’t she do for him? She knew now that if Fitz had been on the other side of that portal, she would have jumped through too.

“I might have put you in danger,” she mumbled, because it was all she could think to say. “If you were hurt because of me…”

“It wouldn’t be because of you,” he objected firmly. “It’d be because of that bloody mermaid.” He shifted closer, careful not to touch her, and his eyes were blue flames. “I want to be with you, for better or for worse, and if that means putting myself in danger then so be it.”

Her gaze dropped. “Fitz I can’t…” _Lose you. Put you in danger. Let you do that…._

“We’re a team aren’t we?” he asked and, still staring at her lap, she nodded because of course they were. “And that means we have to let the other help us sometimes. That means that if there’s trouble, we face it together. And that means I’ll _never_ stop fighting for you.” At last she looked up at him and he shrugged, smiling gently. “That’s what happens when you love someone.”

Her heart fluttered. _When you love someone._ She knew Fitz loved her, there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind about what he felt, but hearing him put it into words was something she hadn’t realized she’d been yearning for. There was a sense of certainty that came with them, they told her that not only did he love her, but he wasn’t afraid to remind her. The words weren’t a message, they were an embrace, a kiss when they couldn’t touch, a nudge of their hearts together when they could. It meant something, even if she already knew.

She was scared, maybe she’d always be scared, but he was right. They couldn’t live their lives pretending they weren’t going to fight for each other, pretending they could stop each other.

“I love you,” she told him steadily. “And yes, we are a team. Whatever happens.”

His eyes shone, another I love you, staring as if she were the most captivating thing in the entire universe. “Can I kiss you now?” he asked, mouth twitching up in a smile. “Or do you really think you’re poisonous?”

Grinning, she took his face between her hands and answered with a kiss of her own. In that moment, even their biology couldn’t keep them apart and land and sea didn’t matter.

“Ahem.” Radcliffe sounded behind them and she prickled in annoyance at the interruption, but begrudgingly allowed Fitz to pull away. “Can someone explain why we’ve been surrounded by dolphins?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Fitzsimmonsavengers for tipping me off about that mermaid story where they breathe a breathable liquid :D
> 
> Poor Fitz, he always gets slimmed in my stories. 
> 
> I may be going to do these once a week now. Still working on that course on top of my thesis. But they should be out on Fridays :)
> 
> Can you guess why the dolphins are back????


	8. Chapter 8

"They found her," Jemma breathed.

Fitz frowned, wondering how she could have possibly known, before he remembered her strange connection with the dolphins. They'd probably sent her a message, or a mental image he wasn't entirely sure how the whole process worked. In all honesty, he didn't really like the idea of them being inside her head. Besides the fact that he still didn't entirely trust them, he didn't want them poking around in her private thoughts, some of which were likely about him. Did they have access to the times they'd spent together? Had the dolphins seen the time he'd accidentally walked off the edge of a dock, right into a lake? Did they know his secrets? How much of what she was thinking did they see? And where did her mind wander when she thought no one was looking? Had the dolphins seen him _naked?_ Had they seen _her_ naked?

 _'Dolphins don't care about that,'_ he scolded himself. _'They're naked all the time, so why should they think anything of us?'_ The finned beasts getting a hold of classified SHIELD information should have been his first concern, but why would they care about that either?

He was trying to remember if SHIELD had anything that would be of interest to marine life, when a sudden splash told him that Jemma had dove in search of the mermaid.

_Priorities Fitz._

Wishing that he still had the ability to breathe in the water, Fitz waited impatiently beside Radcliffe for Jemma to resurface with news.

"I hope we get to meet her," Radcliffe said cheerfully, seating himself calmly beside Fitz as if what happened next _wasn't_ what Jemma's future- both of their futures- hinged on. "Did you get a chance the first time?"

"I didn't have the pleasure," he said dryly.

"You're worried about Jemma," Radcliffe guessed, a touch of sympathy making its way into his features. When Fitz didn't answer, he took it as a signal to continue. "You don't need to be. I've seen you two together and it's clear as glass that nothing could keep you apart."

"She doesn't want to have a fish tail," Fitz deadpanned. "I don't want her to be unhappy."

To his surprise, Radcliffe laughed. "I didn't want to grow old but I'm still happy aren't I?"

He blinked, unsure how to answer that. "This… it's not exactly what's happening here…"

"The point is," Radcliffe pressed. "You both have something I never had, you have each other. And I'm willing to wager that means she'll be able to find happiness whatever happens next."

Fitz wondered how this man, a virtual stranger, could have so much faith in their relationship. Did they really wear their hearts so plainly on their sleeves?

"I still think she'd rather get her legs back," he said, but to his surprise he found his spirits had lifted, if only a little bit.

"Oh of course," Radcliffe agreed quickly. "Of course. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this soon."

"Yeah," Fitz agreed quietly.

After that neither of them spoke, watching the calm surface of the sea as they waited for Jemma to resurface.

/-/-/

The mermaid was waiting for her just a few meters below the surface, far enough that the murky water obscured them from view but not so far that the sunbeams faded.

"You wanted to meet with me?" she said. She didn't seem surprised.

"I'd like my legs back," Jemma told her, cutting straight to the point before the alien got any other brilliant ideas to help her. "Please," she added when she raised an eyebrow at her blunt request.

The mermaid pursed her lips, waving her tail to circle around Jemma, who spun to keep her eyes on her. "What's wrong with having a tail?"

"Nothing," Jemma assured her quickly. "Nothing at all, it's lovely, it's just… well it makes it difficult for me do the things I enjoy, my job, be with Fitz…"

"I thought you said Fitz and your job were a problem," the mermaid reminded her slyly, and Jemma thought with a prick of annoyance that she might be playing games with her. She rolled gracefully onto her back, an upside-down smirk on her face. "That you didn't want him to get hurt because of you."

Jemma grit her teeth. "Well, he has been hurt because of me," she answered, doing her best to keep her agitation out of her voice. No use starting a fight. What if she decided Jemma needed a fish head to go with her tail? "I fell asleep on the dock and he was covered in slime. He could have suffocated."

"You can't suffocate in mermaid goop," she laughed. She shook her head. "Humans! Think everything slimy is going to kill them. Have you ever thought that slime might have medicinal properties in some species? Ever think of that?"

"That… really isn't the point…" Jemma muttered, although she _was_ relieved to know that Fitz was going to be alright. "It really doesn't hurt him?"

She flicked her tail. "Did it look like it hurt him?"

"Many poisons don't-"

"Let me put your mind at ease, it's not poison," she promised.

"Alright but-"

"You," she said, pointing a webbed finger at Jemma, "are incapable of hurting him now. You can't do your job so you can't be in danger and you're pretty much the apex predator in the sea… well except sharks but they don't like mermaids, we taste bad apparently. Nothing you secrete is going to poison him, you can even give him goop that lets him _survive underwater!_ " She threw her hands up, exasperated. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

"But we can't be together!" she blurted.

The mermaid narrowed her eyes. "Says who?"

Jemma flapped her tail. "Biology."

"Your man can't swim?" She sounded almost offended.

"He can but-"

"And you're not going to die if you spend a bit of time on land," she pressed. "I guess I really should have told you that last time we met." She shrugged as if it couldn't be helped. "Sorry. Still really not seeing the problem."

"We aren't exactly _comfortable_ in each other's environments," Jemma protested. "And my home is on the land, my parents, my job. My entire life is on land!"

Another shrug. "When did I say safety was comfortable?"

"Yes but-"

"Isn't it worth not having to worry about him?" she asked.

"I'm still worried about him though," she argued. "He can still get hurt and now with all the time he's spending near the water…" She swallowed down an irrational bolt of panic. "He almost drowned once," she said quietly. "Did the dolphins tell you that?"

"He can't drown if he's dating a mermaid," she told her easily.

"Of course he can still drown!" Jemma exclaimed, quickly losing patience. "Do you think I can be there for him every single second of his life? Do you think I'd have time to secrete the slime in any situation? Do you think I'd be able to go find him if one of our enemies took him away? I'm bound to the sea and he's bound to the land and I… I want my life back!"

Her mouth twitched. "I don't do takebacks," she said with finality.

Jemma let out a hiss of frustration.

"Hey, don't get your fins in a knot," she defended, flipping back over and holding out her hands. "I may be able to offer you a deal."

 _'This feels like a bad idea,"_ Jemma thought, worrying her bottom lip. _'But what other choices do I have?"_

She met the mermaid's gaze squarely. "What's the deal?"

/-/-/

The darkness of the depths clung to her expression when Jemma surfaced and Fitz knew right away that something was wrong. Sopping wet already anyway, he slipped into the water, taking her hand when she swam towards him. It was _freezing_ but he didn't care, Jemma needed him.

"What happened?" he asked, the words rushing out in a gust. "Did you find her? Will she help? Did you tell her why you can't have a tail? Does she know how to-"

"She made me an offer," Jemma said flatly.

Fitz frowned, confused at her tone. "Well that's good isn't it?"

Jemma shook her head, eyes like marbles. "It's not Fitz, I don't… I couldn't ask you to…"

The crazy fish woman wanted something from him now too? He was loathed to find out what she had in store for them now, but whatever it was he'd do it if it'd help.

"Jemma." He cupped her cheek, rubbing the pad of his thumb against her skin. "What's this offer?"

Her hand came up over his, absently folding around it. "She wants us to take a test."

His confusion only deepened. "You mean a written test or…" How would she have paper? What would they write on, seaweed?

"She wants to test that I've gotten what I… what she _thinks_ I wanted," she explained glumly.

This was new information. "And what was that?"

She couldn't seem to meet his eyes. "For you to be safe," she mumbled. "So… so you wouldn't need to protect me anymore."

 _For you to be safe._ It was all both of them wanted, to be safe and together. He'd learned over the past few years how fiercely she'd fight for it and it always struck him how important he was to her, how much she loved him. It was beautiful and terrifying both.

"I'll always protect you," he told her softly.

"Oh Fitz, I know that." She held his face with her free hand, at last meeting his gaze with shining eyes. "I know, but she twists things around. I don't know if she's confused or if she's playing with us but this isn't what I wanted at all."

Fitz gave her tail a gentle poke with his foot. "You mean you didn't ask her to give you fins?" he kidded. She gave him the slightest of smiles and he smiled back, encouraged. "Shouldn't we take the test though?" he went on. "What harm could it do?"

"If we fail, she'll turn you into a mermaid too," Jemma answered unhappily.

He snorted. "A mer _maid_?"

Jemma tisked at him. "A merperson or… a merman? Does it really matter?"

"I think it'd be a completely different thing for her to turn me into a mer _maid_ ," he complained.

"Either way you'd be stuck with a tail!" she exclaimed. "You'd be tied to the sea, just like I am."

"Just like you are," he repeated. _Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, if it meant we could be together._

She frowned, seeing what he was thinking. "No Fitz, I can't… we can't let her do it to you too."

"Well we'll just have to pass the test then," he pressed stubbornly. "We excel at that don't we?"

"But I don't even know what it is," she lamented. "What if it's impossible?"

"That's never stopped us before," he reminded her.

Still she shook her head. "I can't ask you to do that."

"You haven't done any asking at all actually," he said flatly. "And you don't have to. We're a team remember?"

"Can I say something?" Fitz was surprised to hear Radcliffe pipping up behind him. He'd forgotten he was there. "Wouldn't it be easier for you to undo it yourselves if one of you had legs?" The other man suggested, not waiting for an invitation. "There aren't many labs in the sea- except mine of course- but wouldn't it be to your advantage to have at least one of you… er… land worthy?"

He could feel Jemma's eyes on the back of his neck, gloating her victory.

"You said we were a team," she challenged when he turned back to face her. She crossed her arms. "Didn't you mean that? I did."

"Of course I meant it! But we're a _good_ team," he argued, unwilling to give in. He couldn't let her put him over her own wellbeing, not this time. "A good team that can pass whatever test that mermaid comes up with."

"She's clever Fitz," Jemma warned.

"We're more than clever," he countered hotly. "And I'd rather have fins than be separated from you like this. Besides, Radcliffe said he'd help us, and I'm sure that offer still stands, doesn't it?"

Jemma cast Radcliffe a dubious look and when Fitz turned to face him the man wore an expression of surprise.

"I… yes it does. I'd be thrilled for a chance to further study your transformation," he agreed enthusiastically. "Imagine what we could learn. I've already thought of several applications for your… uh… slime."

"See," Fitz told her and she raised her eyebrows. It was clear she still didn't trust him, and honestly Fitz didn't either, not entirely. But he did genuinely seem to want to help. "This is what I want Jemma," he asserted. "Whatever happens, we'll be together, and that's enough for me."

She blew out a shaky breath, but he saw in her eyes that at last he'd broken through. "It's enough for me too. But… You're sure?"

He smiled warmly, reaching up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. It stuck to her skin, leaving a streak of salty drops on his finger. "I'm sure," he promised.

Her eyes shone and she smiled back, giving him a slight nod to acknowledge her agreement. "Then let's tell her that."


	9. Chapter 9

Fitz was ready for the cold this time, slipping into the water in a dry suit that Radcliffe had provided. It was still chilly, but the sweater he was able to wear underneath was a welcome cushion of comfort.

He wore goggles but decided against taking a breathing apparatus. It had already taken a while to put on the wet suit and neither of them wanted to keep the mermaid waiting. An oxygen tank wouldn't allow him to talk anyway. Hopefully the mermaid would take pity on him and surface. Radcliffe at least would be happy about that.

"Ready?" Jemma breathed.

She bit nervously at her lip as she tread beside him. Her gaze raked over his legs and he wondered if she were worried this was her last chance to take them in. He wasn't sure if he was daunted by her concern for their failure or happy that she liked them enough to miss them. A bit of both he guessed.

He smiled, taking her hand to press her cold fingers to his lips. "Whenever you are."

She answered with a firm nod, eyes flashing with determination and, on a silent cue, he took a deep breath and they dove down together.

The mermaid appeared almost instantly, swimming up to circle around them, and as she examined him Fitz found himself staring right back. She wasn't what he'd expected, even Jemma's attention to detail had not prepared him for what floated before him.

Silver and sleek like a fish, she was beautiful but not the way a human was beautiful. He could tell, from the way her eyes darted over him, quick and bright, that she was intelligent, but she was wild too, sharp teeth and quick reflexes like a predator. With a prickle of unease, Fitz wondered exactly what she ate.

When she spoke, he was startled by how human her voice was.

"Why did you bring the finless flopper down here?" she asked, and Fitz frowned at her tone of amusement. "He wont be able to do anything if he keeps having to go up for air. Let's return to the surface before he swallows too much water."

Fitz didn't really think water swallowing was going to be a problem, but he happily complied with the request, allowing Jemma to take his hand and pull him back up with her. He thought that maybe her grip was a bit tighter than it normally was, but that might have been his imagination or a product of his own fingers curled tightly around hers.

Despite his feet giving him the disadvantage, the tug from Jemma was enough to allow him to keep up and the three of them broke the surface at roughly the same time, greeted by gasp from the boat.

"Look at her," Radcliffe cooed. Already he seemed enamoured by the scaled woman and, intrigued, she swam closer.

"I'm not very good with humans," she admitted, squinting in thought. "But… are you the dad human?"

Radcliffe laughed. "No I don't have any children."

"Me neither," she told him. "Mermaids have over a hundred children at he same time. Us women all lay our eggs together and then the men come and give them a good dose of fertilizer. No one knows which kid is whose, so we all share in raising the little nippers. But some people put a bit more effort in it than others if you know what I mean." She shook her head, eyes wide. "It's a mess. But with five moms, six dads and a hundred and sixteen siblings, at least family reunions are interesting."

"Fascinating," Radcliffe muttered.

She tilted her head. "Is it? I always thought human reproduction was a lot more interesting…"

"It's ovuliparity," Jemma marveled. "They're just like salmon."

"Hey, I eat salmon," she protested. "How would you like me comparing you to a chicken?"

"Chickens aren't-" Fitz began, but the mermaid held out her hand to shush him, talking over him.

"It doesn't matter," she said brusquely. "What have you decided on?"

Fitz and Jemma exchanged a quick glance, but if she had any doubt it didn't show. She raised her chin. "We'll accept the challenge."

The mermaid clapped her hands together and Fitz jumped at the sudden noise, instinctively swimming closer to Jemma.

"I thought you'd say that!" she cheered. "OK, hold onto your land-lover."

"Why do I have to-?" Jemma began, but as the mermaid sped forward she cut herself off to comply, gripping onto Fitz like a frightened cat.

The mermaid swum around them, faster and faster until they were spinning too and the water came up to surround them like a bubble. Fitz let out a yelp of surprise and Jemma gasped, pulling him closer as he braced for the sudden onset of cold water. But it didn't come. As quickly as it had begun, it was over and they were bobbing in the calm waves of the sea.

"What was that?" Fitz grumbled, catching sight of the mermaid floating a few feet away, laying on her back with a wide grin. "Oh, ha ha, very funny, scare the humans half to death with your special mermaid powers. You know for someone whose supposed to be helping people you really are a-"

"Fitz my legs!" He turned his head to find Jemma beaming down into the water. Kicking beneath her were her legs, white against the blue-green of the water. "Oh look at my toes! They're back!" She wiggled them in front of her, giggling as she did. She spun to face the mermaid. "Thank you!"

"Don't thank her, she's the one who got us into this mess!" Fitz protested, but Jemma ignored him, clamping a hug over his shoulders that nearly pulled them both under and he found his annoyance hard to hold onto while he was bombarded by her waves of joy.

He held her back, shoulders sagging in relief, and they stayed like that for a few more seconds before she was wiggling out of his arms.

"I think I'd like to get out of the water now, if it's all the same to everyone," she said cheerfully. "Oh but… first I'll need pants."

"Of course." Fitz smiled at her, giving her forehead a quick peck before backing away towards the boat. "I brought you a change of clothes, and I'll get you a towel too- Astrid gave us a few fluffy ones."

"Thank you Fitz," Jemma called after him fondly.

As he hauled himself out of the water, he gave Radcliffe a stern look, but the other scientist was already getting up to head inside, looking everywhere but at the water. He and Fitz walked in together.

"It all worked out then," Radcliffe said cheerfully.

"It did," Fitz agreed, unable to keep the smile off of his face. Jemma was happy again, and that made him happy too. "But… how?"

Radcliffe shrugged and the mystery lingered as ducked into the cabin.

/-/-/

Jemma couldn't seem to stop moving her legs, testing each toe at a time, feeling every muscle flex. The smile that spread across her face felt as if it would never go away, despite the quizzical looks she was getting the mermaid as she splashed happily around.

She wasn't sure if she wanted run or collapse into a soft warm, _dry,_ bed. As excited as she was she was exhausted and she was glad when she spotted Fitz, alone, holding out what must have been the fluffiest towel she'd ever seen. She hauled herself out of the water, laughing in delight at standing for the first time in days, and wobbled into his arms. He wrapped the towel snuggly around her and she closed her eyes contently, leaning into him.

They were free, they were victorious. But… why?

Even her vibrant enthusiasm at being back to normal couldn't shout over her curiosity and glanced towards the water, pleased to find the mermaid still swimming close by.

"We never passed any test," she told her. She felt Fitz tense at the reminder but she didn't think the mermaid was going to double cross them, or that she'd forgotten.

She shrugged, leaning back lazily in the water. "You trusted each other," she said simply. "That's all you needed. All you had to do was trust that you could handle the decision together. It really didn't matter what you chose." She smiled. "But I am glad you chose the deal; I _knew_ you would. I'm pretty good at reading people and I know that you two are pretty cocky."

Fitz huffed and she held up her hands defensively. "With good reason. The dolphins tell me you're clever and they should know, they're pretty smart themselves. My mothers always said, never try to outsmart a dolphin."

"The dolphins!" She turned to Fitz, eyes wide. "Fitz we never thanked them."

He was smiling at her like he had a secret and when she tilted her head, he nodded towards the sea, eyes sparkling.

She followed his gaze, grinning at the sight before her.

The dolphins making quite a show of themselves, splashing around, jumping out of the water. One of the younger once, one Jemma recognized which had imitated her nodding, jumped higher than he'd expected, thrashing his tail in surprise before belly flopping back into the water. His head popped out a few moments later and Jemma giggled, feeling a surprising bubble of affection. She'd grown fond of the pod during her short time with them and she'd always remember their kindness.

"Oh they know," the mermaid told her. "They're happy that you're happy."

"If only I could thank them properly," she lamented, wishing she could have her sensitivity to telepathy back, just for a few minutes.

"They don't really want anything," she assured her. She shrugged. "Maybe just try to protect the ocean. We live here you know."

"And it doesn't hurt that that benefits you too," Fitz pointed out.

Another shrug.

Fitz seemed about to say more but Jemma butted his cheek with hers, snuggling against his shoulder when he nuzzled back. "Will we see you again?" she asked her. As trying as the experience had been, Jemma still wanted to know more about this alien. And maybe the dolphins too. "We could learn so much from each other," she added when the mermaid hesitated.

"You're not planning to probe me are you?" she asked, and Jemma could tell by the way her mouth twitched at her words that she was only half joking. "I don't want to be abducted by aliens in the middle of the night."

"Well I would be happy if you'd let me take a few blood samples," she admitted. The mermaid's eyes widened and she hurried on. "But not if it makes you uncomfortable of course."

She crossed her arms, scanning the pair of them. "Well… I would like to know more about you humans," she conceded at last. "Do _you_ know what the fascination is for making those pointy ended sticks?"

Jemma frowned. "We actually make quiet a few pointy things," she told her. "You'd have to be more specific."

"They have a rod and then a flat part with four, sometimes three points," she pressed, drawing out the shape with her finger.

"You're talking about a fork," Jemma realized. Of all the things to have questions about.

"Yes, OK, a _fork."_ She fumbled over the new word. "Why do you make those? Are they for your hair?"

"Our- no!" Fitz burst. "They're for eating with."

"Are you sure?" she asked skeptically. "I can't imagine it'd be very helpful cutting the food."

"No it's not for… it's…" Jemma felt his arm move up to his face and imagined he was rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It's for holding the food."

"Hmm." The mermaid seemed disappointed.

"But we have all sorts of things, much more interesting than forks," Jemma pressed. "Have you ever seen a power plant? An aeroplane?"

"Flying above the sea," she answered, swimming closer. "But never up close. How do they stay up there?"

She and Fitz exchanged a glance. "Would you like to find out?" he asked.

"Well… it would be nice to know more about you," she admitted. She frowned, weighing her options. "Alright, I'll talk to the others," she agreed at last.

"And no tricks this time," Fitz added firmly. "Neither of us want to come out of the water with fish parts."

The mermaid looked as if she were trying to suppress a giggle as she nodded her agreement. "Fair enough," she mused.

They agreed to meet again in a few days and when Jemma's eyes started to droop she let Fitz bring her inside and show her to the, rather impressive, bedroom. It was glamorous for a boat, although still a little tight, but she didn't mind the lack of space. She fell asleep snuggled close to Fitz, both legs safely tucked under the blanket.

/-/-/

For all the travelling he'd done in his life, Fitz still found that an unfamiliar bed kept him up and, despite his exhaustion, he slept lightly that night. He'd just started to fade out when he was awoken by soft footsteps past the cabin door. He opened his eyes, finding himself in the dark, his surroundings mapped only by the lap of waves outside and Jemma's gentle breathing beside him. It was a lightless, but comforting place to find himself in, with his favourite person within arm's reach, safe and peaceful.

He could feel her warmth radiating beside him, the heel of her foot pushed up against his calf, and he found her shoulder, touching it lightly before giving it fond kiss. Happiness welled in his chest as her scent washed over him and he knew that, human or mermaid, he'd have had a life filled with joy at her side. Still he was glad they'd both kept their life on the land.

Sometime in the night he'd stolen the blanket away and he tucked it back around her now before pushing himself up, touching her shoulder one more time.

_Sweet dreams Jemma, you deserve a good rest._

She was so deep in sleep that she didn't stir, not even when he wove around her to find his way off the bed. He slipped out the door, shutting it carefully behind him so as not wake her, and padded up onto the deck.

Radcliffe was standing at the edge of the boat, watching the moonlight ripple off the water.

"What time is it?" Fitz asked groggily.

"Just after midnight," he told him, giving him a welcoming smile when he came to stand beside him. "How's Jemma?"

"Exhausted," he answered. "But happy to be back to normal."

"And you made a deal with the mermaid?" he asked curiously.

Fitz shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure she wants to cooperate, but I hope we've convinced her that it'd be better to work together."

"I hope she does. Just think of all the things we could learn from her," Radcliffe marveled and, in his excitement, he reminded Fitz just a little of Jemma.

He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, or if he thought he could trust the other man, but he was grateful that he'd been so quick to offer his help.

"Thank you," he told him. "For helping us."

"I didn't really do much," Radcliffe admitted, although he smiled at the thanks.

"You came all the way out here with this boat," Fitz pointed out fairly, turning slightly to gesture at the monstrous vessel.

"Well the lure of discovery tempted me," he mused. "And the chance to work with you and Dr. Simmons again. You really are a remarkable team. I hope we get a chance to work together again in the future." He seemed about to say more, and Fitz nearly wondered if he were about to offer him a job. But instead he let out a wide yawn. "I think it's time we both followed Dr. Simmons' example and got some rest."

Fitz yawned too, nodding as he did and they headed back down into the cabin together, Fitz slipping back into the room where he'd left Jemma.

He opened the door carefully but she was awake when he entered, the light of her phone making her face glow white.

"Please don't tell me we have another mission," Fitz groaned. He'd need to give their leader a talk about time zones when they returned.

Jemma shook her head. "No, you can come back to bed," she mused, padding the space beside her. "I woke up and I was worried about Daisy. It's been nearly a week since we've heard from her."

"Did you reach her?" he asked.

She lay back against the pillow, keeping her phone lit on her stomach to guide him towards her. "No."

Fitz settled in, worried about their friend but unable to keep the thought of Radcliffe's offer from nagging the back of his mind. Daisy would be OK, she just needed space after what had happened with Lincoln. As much as he wanted to help her, he didn't think there was anything either of them could do if she wanted to be alone.

The thought crossed his mind too, that it could have been them. It could have been him saying goodbye in that quinjet, or… he suppressed a shudder… or even Jemma. If he'd lost her again…

"I'm tired Jemma," he admitted.

The light of Jemma's phone slid across the ceiling as she rolled over, the device falling between them. He tilted his head towards her, shutting his eyes when she grazed the edges of her fingers over his cheek.

"You've done so much," she murmured. "I think you might have had less sleep than I have."

He took her hand, pulling her fingers to his lips before clutching it to his chest. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh," he could hear in her voice that she'd understood and he wondered if she'd had the same thought he'd had. She sighed, taking a moment to think it over. "So am I," she admitted at last.

Fitz wasn't sure he wanted to ask his next question but he knew he had too, for both of them. "What do you think we should do about it?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

"I think Radcliffe wants us to work for him," he ventured, and he was surprised when he didn't hear her scoff.

"Nothing would need to be permanent," she said slowly.

"No," he answered quickly. "Not if we don't want it to be."

The thought hung between them, neither entirely certain what it meant or how to pursue it, until Fitz found himself letting out another wide yawn.

"We need to sleep," Jemma decided, taking her hand back to place her phone on the table. "We can talk about this more tomorrow."

"And we should try calling Daisy again," he added as she turned back around. She'd left the light on to fade on it's own and her shadowy face was the last thing he saw before he shut his eyes.

"We should," she agreed. He felt her hand on his cheek, her lips pressing against his forehead. "I love you, Fitz."

He smiled, his heart glowing gold at the now familiar words. "I love you too, Jemma," he answered softly.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, or what was happening with their friends across the ocean, but he knew that they'd be together for whatever it was and, in the end, that was all he needed.

/-/-/

When they were both asleep, Radcliffe crept back up onto the deck. Smiling, he peered over the rail out into the black night.

A head broke the surface of the water with a splash and looked down, smile widening.

"Enjoying the night?" he called down to her.

"Hmm," the mermaid eased onto her back, floating contently beneath the moon. "Are you? Did you get what you needed?"

"I think I've almost convinced them, yes," he answered. "Thank you."

She was carrying a device and she placed it onto her stomach, watching its tiny screen. Radcliffe couldn't see it, but it had a counter on it, written in her language, and the counter had just gone up by one.

"Only two hundred satisfied customers to go," she cheered. "Then it's back to our home world and bye bye to this place. I might miss some of the marine life though," she admitted.

"And the people?" Radcliffe wondered.

"Well you're a little shifty," she told him honestly. "But I guess that makes you like me." She laughed. "Yeah OK, I'm going to miss you weirdos. We probably still have another decade or two to enjoy you."

"Are you going to take up Fitzsimmons offer?" he asked. "I have to agree with Dr. Simmons, I think it would be mutually beneficial."

"The family is going to vote on it in a few hours," she told him. "But I'd better go- can't let them catch us talking or I might lose this point!"

Without another word, she'd vanished into the night sea, leaving behind another satisfied customer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phewww sorry that took so long! I was really trying to get ahead on my thesis and things kept going wrong. But yesterday I twisted my ankle chasing after my silly cat and had to stay home and voila, a day to write. 
> 
> A thanks to agl03 for helping with the end, and letting me bounce that idea for Radcliffe off of her :D
> 
> The fork is a reference to the little mermaid, and her confusion over the forks thanks to her seagull friend haha.
> 
> Ovuliparity means having eggs that are externally fertilized, although the term didn't have it's own wiki page, and I think it's either a newer term, or a term that isn't used often? And I think salmon actually do select a specific mate, they just release their gametes together.


End file.
